Kathleen S. Lowney

About the author: Kathleen S. Lowney is an associate professor of sociology at Valdosta State University in Georgia.

A study of a coven of teen Satanists reveals that although members of the coven tended to be marginalized members of society, they did not become Satanists to participate in major criminal activities. Instead, the group was formed to critique and rebel against the dominant culture, norms, and values of the teens' community. In the process, the teen Satanists formed close social bonds and developed a new self-identity. The coven was intensely opposed by the dominant culture.

Satanism has been much discussed of late, primarily by the popular media and less so by the scholarly community. A very few analysts have seen it as a nonthreatening new religious movement, one among...